The List

Oh dear.  It has been months again since posting.  Almost every day I think of topics but I just haven't been able to bring myself to write.  So I have been thinking about why this is.  I love writing this blog once I get going on a post.  And I have come to the conclusion that there is just too much that bothers me in the world at the moment:  

My fears about Trump are playing out - and then some.  Immigration, environment idiocy, war mongering, his general stupidity, his tweets, his attitude towards the rest of the world in general, the frankly endless list is horrific.

There is no sign that Brexit will be stopped.  Even in the current uncertainty about 'the deal' I have no real hope that the madness will be ended by us Remaining.  I actually feel sorry for Theresa May.  A new emotion to feel sorry for a Tory. 

The environment.  I have tried really hard at  home this year to do more recycling and buy less stuff and all of that.  But then you read articles and watch programmes which tell you that no progress is being made at all.  That most of what you think you are recycling is not being properly recycled.  That the Indian Ocean is flooded with plastic.  That we are losing species/forests/water ever day. 

Universal credit in the UK.  What a joke.  More people than ever are below the poverty line.  More people are homeless.  The NHS is collapsing.  Education is chronically underfunded.  But our government is spending billions on Brexit.  £4.5 million of taxpayers' money was apparently spent to renovate an apartment for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.  Imagine what £4.5 million extra could do for one Local Education Authority?  One tiny example amongst thousands...

I could keep going ad infinitum.  Do you see what I mean?  Depressing.

So I have been focussing a bit more on things closer to home.  On being grateful for what I already have.  On thinking about what small things I can continue to do to help, so that at least I can look my kids in the eye and say 'we tried to fix this'.

With that in mind, could I ask you to make a donation this Christmas to a cause which means something to you?  (Not your beer fund or your ASOS account (!) either.)  A food bank, a shelter, a wildlife charity, an age concern group.  Even a local church or school.  Or to the Remain campaign.  Or subscribe to a fact checking site online and help to keep fake news at bay.  Then send a card or email in support of that cause to your MP or council.

We can't change the world right now, immediately.  It's going to take time and planning for the big problems but I am determined not to be overwhelmed.  I hope you are too.

The Big Read

Not managed a proper post this week.  Not that there isn't plenty to talk about.  There is just not plenty of time in the day!  However, I did just want to recommend something.  In York this autumn, we have something called The Big Read.  The library people have organised these before - getting lots of free copies of a book and doing events based around its themes.

 

However, next week, the 2016 Big Read opens and they have chosen Renegeration by Pat Barker.  It is the first of a trilogy and is about the First World War.  It is not a new book but it is a wonderful book.  If you are a York reader of this blog, copies of the book are available from our libraries from 5 October.  The many events are already booking though - including a couple of visits from Pat Barker herself.

 

And if you are not in York, I highly recommend, in these days of 'the big society' having to run its own libraries, such an event.  Every museum and many organisations in the city are contributing and it promises to be a fantastic event.

 

With a thread true to the heart of this blog, they are also taking the opportunity to look at modern links to the themes of Regeneration, such as mental well-being.

 

http://www.exploreyork.org.uk/bigcityread/

Mental Family History

 

 

Well once again it is a worryingly long time since I sat down to write.  Between half term and puppy training, I am just incapable of getting off the sofa to sit down and think by the evenings and there has not been a spare minute during the days.  The modern problem.  Every magazine and Sunday supplement seems to have articles about being happier, getting more time, making time for people who matter to you, being more relaxed, blah blah.....

However, since this is a family history related blog, it occurred to me that it would be interesting to be able to understand how many of these "problems" are indeed a modern issue.  Every age must have had its problems.  Maybe it is simply that they did not have names for the problems a century  or so ago.

In part, I wanted to write this post because it was announced a couple of weeks ago that thousands of mental health records, dating back to the eighteenth century, are to be put online.  It will not be via the subscription sites so you may not be aware of it.  This link will take you to the article relating to the release.  From there, you can link to the various organisations involved in this fascinating project.  It looks like there will be a mass of information available eventually - and not just from London hospitals either.

http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/over-800000-pages-mental-health-records-go-online

 

On a personal note though, for the past ten years, I myself have battled mild depression.  Sometimes it does not feel so mild, to be sure, but in comparison with what many people suffer, I guess it is mild.  So I do have quite an interest in all the "be happier" articles and I have done a lot of work with a fantastic therapist (now, sadly for me, retired.  I am sure she is quite relieved!).  I have an even stronger interest in the idea of a family link with depression because I was always told that my paternal grandmother was a "manic depressive".  In modern terms, this is now known as Bipolar Disorder and everything I have read points to a strong genetic link for the condition.  Family history is very important in diagnosis.  Stephen Fry, above, is bipolar and has done a huge amount to publicise the condition. He is president of MIND.

I have always wondered about my great grandparents and even further back on that side.  Certainly my grandmother suffered quite extreme symptoms in later life - the main characteristic of the condition is mood swings - and was then subjected to quite extreme electric shock treatment in attempts to ease her situation.  [She died very suddenly of a heart attack at a relatively young age - I also wonder about the link between that and the stress that the shock treatment must have put her heart under but I need to really understand the treatment more...]

Unfortunately, at first glance, it does not look like I will find my grandmother's records in the new release.  I don't think her era will be released - too modern.  And my age old problem, as regular readers will know, is that my paternal side were Anglo Indian so finding their medical records in India is not going to be easy - in fact is probably impossible unless they were in the army.  The relevant paternal great grandmother did die in the UK though, so maybe I should start with her death certificate and see if that holds any clues.  I did meet her when I was very little but I have no clear memory of her.  (Although I do recall being given an old handbag of hers when her things were cleared out - it was red and it was in my dressing up box for years!)

 

Sadly for my grandmother, these days Bipolar Disorder is much better recognised and is treated mainly with various medication, therapy and lifestyle advice to deal with drink/drug/sleep/weight issues.  It was only in the 1980s that she was properly diagnosed, I believe.  There is reference, in the articles that I have read about the disorder, to recognising "triggers" which would bring on episodes of extreme behaviour - be it mania or  a real low.   I do recall mention of "triggers" when my parents tried to explain to me about Nana's illness.  I think her own siblings were a major trigger but I have never properly asked my father about this.  I think I need to get brave and find out.

 

I suppose, given my own recent history, one could be worried that one may develop Bipolar, given the family link.  After all, we do worry about our own future's if a relative is diagnosed with cancer or heart disease.  However, I do believe that Nana suffered so much in part because of ignorance of the condition. Maybe, for example, like myself, symptoms started years before - post natal like my own or even before.  If mild symptoms had been treated, maybe the condition would not have gone as far as it did.  Sad but highly likely, I believe.  Nana certainly had huge life changes in her time - children, issues with her family, leaving India after Partition, to name but a few - and I know only too well that for some people, change has to be carefully managed.

 

So maybe there is a place in the modern age for all the self help articles.  We do now have names for things and we do have an awareness of lifestyle choices and how they affect our mental well being.  That does not, of course, mean that we always follow the "path of good".  Personally, I self medicate with Maltesers quite a lot of the time.....